Jelly Ko Founder Featured in The K-Beauty Science: Navigating K-Beauty’s Second Wave

We're proud to share that our founder, Lauren Lee (이혜정), was recently featured in K-Beauty Science magazine’s May 2025 issue, highlighting the direction and challenges of what many are calling K-Beauty’s “Second Wave.”

As both a long-time K-Beauty industry insider and the founder of Jelly Ko, Lauren offers her unique perspective on how Korean beauty is evolving globally...and what still needs to change.

K-Beauty Goes Global – But What’s Next?

With Korean cosmetics exports surpassing $10 billion for the first time in 2024, K-Beauty continues its rapid global expansion. Yet, as international demand grows, so do questions about the sustainability and inclusivity of the industry’s practices.

Lauren, an Australian lawyer-turned-entrepreneur, has lived in Korea since 2016 and is one of the first Australian legal consultants officially registered in Korea. Today, she runs two K-Beauty businesses across Korea and Australia and hosts The Korean Beauty Show podcast, downloaded in 142+ countries.

What Foreign Consumers Love About K-Beauty

• Competitive Pricing
  Korean skincare is seen as a smart, budget-friendly alternative to legacy beauty brands, especially among Gen Z and value-conscious shoppers.
• Gentle on Skin
  K-Beauty emphasizes holistic skin health, hydration and barrier care, which is an approach only recently gaining traction overseas.
• Natural Ingredients
  With heritage botanicals like mugwort, ginseng, rice and soy, Korean brands align closely with the global clean beauty movement.
• Innovation
  Korea’s dense manufacturing ecosystem and explosion of indie brands fuel constant product innovation that few markets can rival.

Challenges K-Beauty Must Face to Sustain Global Success

• Hyper-consumerism & Waste
  Excessive new product releases, over-packaging and influencer seeding are under scrutiny from environmentally conscious consumers.
• Lack of Diversity
  Many Korean makeup products still cater predominantly to light skin tones. This limits market potential and risks brand reputation in more diverse markets.
• Trends Move Too Fast
  Global consumers often value consistency over constant reinvention. The Korean habit of rapidly discontinuing products can erode long-term trust.

Final Thoughts from Lauren

“If K-Beauty’s Second Wave is to be more than a passing trend, we need to evolve not just through innovation, but through empathy and responsibility. Understanding the long-term needs of global consumers and meeting them with intention is what will secure K-Beauty’s future.”

At Jelly Ko, we’re proud to be part of that shift, championing thoughtful formulations, refillable packaging and customer-first product development based on data collected from 20,000+ real K-Beauty consumers.

Originally published in the May 2025 issue (Vol. 77) of The K-Beauty Science.